1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to cleaning devices, and more specifically to a butterfly duster that is well suited for many cleaning tasks.
2. Description of Related Art
The need to clean surfaces of dust, debris, and other unwanted material has been prevalent in society for thousands of years. Brooms, brushes, dusters, and various other cleaning implements have been applied to the task of cleaning away unwanted materials for thousands of years, and these implements continue to evolve with the use of modern materials and design techniques.
The feather duster, for example, came about as a use for turkey feathers rendered from turkey processing. In 1874 Susan Hibbard filed a patent application for an Improvement in Feather Dusters where she described cutting away the stem of a feather to make the feather more suitable for a feather duster due to its increased flexibility. In 1876, U.S. Pat. No. 177,939 was issued to Susan Hibbard. Modern materials have limited the usefulness of natural materials such as turkey feathers, but with the complexity of modern day life and related modern day conveniences, buildings and other manmade environments. the need for cleaning devices has also never been greater. Dusters, for example, while well suited for removing dust from planar surfaces such as tables, floors, and the like, often fail to offer the necessary structural attributes necessary to clean angled or spaced surfaces such as stair treads, chair rungs, baseboards, moldings, and the like. In addition, the duster has collected dust and debris, it must be moved to a location, such as an outdoor area, where it can be shaken and freed from entrapped dust and debris so as to be ready for the next cleaning job. While a simple task, oftentimes carrying the dust and debris laden duster any distance at all results in the undesired release of the same dust and debris that was just removed from the now clean area.
What is therefore needed is a duster that folds to allow for ease of transportation and storage in a way that prevents the undesired release of dust and debris. What is further needed is a duster that folds in a way that allows for cleaning of edges and other transitional and non-planar surfaces. What is further needed is a duster that folds for compact storage.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster that easily folds for retention of collected dust and debris. It is another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster that folds for compact storage. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster that folds using a novel alignment mechanism. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster that folds without the need to manufacture the duster from different sliding materials. It is another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster with a novel folding mechanism. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a butterfly duster with a novel cleaning pad and retention structure.
These and other objects of the present invention are not to be considered comprehensive or exhaustive, but rather, exemplary of objects that may be ascertained after reading this specification and claims with the accompanying drawings.